Ale knew she didn't need to panic. Panicking only made things worse. And she and Eliot had both been in much worse situations.
"Don't panic," Eliot said, speeding up a bit.
"I'm not. But what's our plan?" Ale asked, popping in her com. She sent a text to Hardison, telling him to turn on everyone's coms. She didn't get a response, though, nor did she get a response from anyone else on the team.
Nevertheless, Ale kept her com in, just in case someone came over the air.
"What do you think our plan should be? What does he want with you?" Eliot asked, glancing over at Ale. He should have been surprised with how calm Ale was, but he knew her, and he knew how well she did in emergency situations. It was only after that she allowed herself to crumble.
"I have no clue. To check that I am loyal to him? That I'm not working for anyone else? These guys are younger than most drug ring leaders…they are probably using their own merchandise, which means that they are more paranoid than usual."
"Very true," Eliot nodded. "So, do we face the music?"
"I say we still go get dinner. I'm starving." Ale shrugged.
"I thought you weren't hungry," Eliot said, looking at Ale.
"I lied," Ale shrugged.
Eliot laughed, jerking down an alley. They eventually made it to the diner they were planning on going to, two more shots ringing into the truck.
Once Eliot parked the truck Ale and Eliot got out, Bo and his crew quickly following behind them. Ale assumed that Eliot would have the first two guys down before Bo had a chance to get a word in with her. Instead, one of the guys grabbed her from behind, Eliot about to help Ale when two of Bo's guys knocked him out. Ale decided not to panic, as that would make her seem inexperienced and too young minded. Instead, she looked squarely at the guys who knocked Eliot out.
"Aren't you going to panic?" one of them asked, Ale laughing slightly.
"Why? Because Bo is making a little test for me to pass? I assume you want us to go with you, so, since you very inconveniently left him unconscious, you can get him into the car and shove me in the back so we can get this song and dance over with," Ale said.
Eliot wasn't out for that long, and when he woke up he was in the back of a van, his head in Ale's lap. His hands were tied behind his back, and when he looked up at Ale he realized hers were too.
"Morning sunshine," Ale smiled, Eliot chuckling.
"What happened?" Eliot asked, sitting back up.
Ale knew he wasn't asking to know what happened to him. He wanted to know what happened after he went unconscious.
"Well, I sassed the boys, asked them to politely take me start whatever little test Bo wanted with me so that I could be home before midnight," Ale shrugged. "So we got put in this van, me a little more nicely than you did, and we are on our way somewhere. I've been counting turns and seconds. Once I realized we are going to the warehouse I was at earlier I stopped because Hardison already has the location. Speaking of, I slipped your com in your ear, mine is in my ear, and I have sent multiple texts to Hardison and the rest of the team trying to get them to turn on the coms to at least listen to what was going on so if we die someone can retell our wonderful last moments. Plus, I was extremely bad ass while you were out and everyone missed it."
"Are you not the least bit worried?" Eliot chuckled. Ale was about to answer when the van stopped, Ale and Eliot quieting.
"Follow my lead, cowboy," Ale smiled, the door to the van opening.
"Get out," Bo said, offering his arm to Ale.
"You are going to have to do a hell of a lot more than that," Ale laughed. "Your friends thought it was a good idea to tie my hands to tie me up."
"Ah, they just wanted to be able to rough you up," Bo said, winking a bit. Eliot growled, Bo laughing again. "And they wanted you to be equal to your boyfriend, of course," Bo said.
The men came to the back of the van, getting Ale and Eliot out of the van.
"Look, I appreciate what you are doing here," Ale sighed, looking over her shoulder at Bo, "but are these restraints necessary? I don't have any weapons, and neither does he."
"No. But by the looks of him, he could probably take all of my guys down. And if you have your hands free you could let him out."
"Please. When I have him tied up the last thing that I do is untie him," Ale said seductively.
Eliot almost stopped dead in his tracks, choking on his own spit.
He could not believe that Ale just said that. Granted, she was trying to keep a persona up, but still.
Ale couldn't believe that she had just said that. Something about this whole situation was making her some sexy, sassy bad ass that she did not recognize. It was working, though, because Bo had the guy take off her restraints.
"Thank you," Ale nodded.
Once they got fully into the warehouse Eliot was shoved onto a couch, his hands still tied behind him. Two of Bo's men sat down on either side of him, the rest of the men all taking the remaining seats and chairs in that pod of seating. Bo sat in an armchair in front of the couch, looking at Ale.
"Pick your seat, Grace," Bo smiled, Ale simply shrugging at sitting on Eliot's lap, draping her legs onto one of the men's legs.
"Sorry but I seem to be out of space," Ale said, looking at the man she plopped her legs on.
"So, to what do we owe this pleasure?" Eliot asked as Ale wrapped an arm around his neck.
"Well, your girlfriend here came to me for a deal. She said she needed time to think. But I wanted an answer," Bo shrugged. "I also thought that she was dating that boy, Alex."
Ale laughed, raising her eyebrows at Bo.
"You honestly think that I would spend my time with Alex, willingly? That prep boy with something to prove? You're delusional. He is the minor leagues. And he is losing his reach. I am in the majors. And I need a dealer, and a man, who can keep up."
Eliot could easily see that Bo was confused, and intrigued, with Ale.
"So you are telling me that you hooked up with Alex to find his dealer?" Bo asked.
"You catch on quick," Ale nodded. "Look, here's the deal. I have been pulling this con with my partner, the priest in ten different cities. Aaron, here, is basically just along for the ride. I get my supplies, I sell, and once my reach is far enough I pass of my business to some schmuck like Alex, make sure my supplier can't be identified, ensure that if anything goes downhill it all falls on my little intern, I still get a cut, and I move on to a new city. It's all very simple. And it can't happen without you. So, the real question is, are you in? Because if you keep things going with Alex, you are going to get caught real soon or lose his chunk of business. I can keep you with cash flow for a while," Ale proposed, Bo looking extremely interested.
Eliot was amazed with Ale. He could not believe that she knew what to say to get Bo and his guys to not kill the two of them.
"And how am I supposed to know that you two aren't cops, or that muscle isn't going to take us all out?"
"Do I look like a cop?" Ale asked.
"You could be wearing a wire," one of Bo's guys said. Ale shrugged, pretending to give Eliot a kiss on his neck.
"Please forgive me for whatever happens," Ale said. She stood, standing on the small coffee table in the middle of the seating area.
"I promise you I am not wired."
Ale took the hair tie off her wrist, tying her hair up in a sloppy bun. She then slipped off her t-shirt, a black, lacy bra being the only thing remaining on Ale's top half. Next, Ale slipped off her jeans, a black, lacy pair of underwear adorning her frame.
Eliot did all he could not to look surprised with how sexy Ale looked. She was, after all, her 'girlfriend', and he should have known. Still, Eliot couldn't believe what he was seeing. He could finally see Ale's full tattoos, lines of cursive going on her ribs.
"See. Nothing but black lace under these clothes," Ale shrugged, putting her clothes back on. "And as for Aaron," Ale smiled, pulling her shirt on after she buttoned her jeans. Ale walked over to Bo, sitting on his lap. She kissed him, causing everyone in the room to drop their jaws. Eliot realized that he shouldn't look surprised so he instead put a look of contentment on his face, a smug smile accompanying a raised eyebrow.
"That is just a taste of what he gets," Ale whispered, wiping the side of Bo's mouth. "I think you would do what I said, too, if you got that kind of…attention. And I don't want him to take you out."
Ale had absolutely no idea what had come over her. She figured it was the grifter in her, but she was also a little certain that it was her hidden bad girl side coming out.
No. It was the grifter. Definitely the grifter.
She was just trying to get the situation under control and gain leverage. It's what she does. What the team does.
And one sixth of the team had just seen her in her underwear. In her sexy underwear.
And now he had leverage.